Category Archives: Development

Brentford High Street Steering Group announces wind-up after twelve years

7 October 2018Brentford, DevelopmentBallymore, Brentford, High Street, Regeneration, Town centreandrew.dakers@blueyonder.co.uk

After twelve years of practical interventions to keep Brentford High Street alive – and shape a regeneration that respects the town centre’s history – the trustees of Brentford High Street Steering Group (BHSSG) have taken the decision to wind-up the award-winning regeneration charity.

Andrew Dakers, Chair of trustees said: “With the likely commencement of the first phase of the regeneration of the Southside of the High Street by Ballymore in the next few months, it is time for volunteers to step back and for the private sector and Hounslow Council to lead management of the town centre.”

Julia Quilliam BEM, added: “We would like to take the opportunity to thank local residents, traders, partner organisations, council officers, councillors and MPs for their support since 2006. This is time of transition for the high street and we wish the next generation ‘Town Team’ well in picking up where we left off.”

Future of Brentford Market

The wind-up of BHSSG, which has operated Brentford Market over the past five years, means that the market (first established 1306) may go on ‘pause’ for a while. The last Sunday Market that BHSSG will operate is Sunday 25^th November 2018. It will now be for Hounslow Council to decide whether a temporary operator might take over and whether/ when to conduct an open market search for an operator.

With the retail downturn, more people shopping online and tighter labour market (meaning there are less market traders seeking a pitch) it has been increasingly difficult for a volunteer group to sustain the market. Direct and/or indirect subsidies are likely to be required by any future operator until the first phase of the High Street regeneration completes and a more commercial operation should become viable.

Asset transfer

Remaining assets (equipment depreciated to nil) will be transferred to a local non-profit organisation with similar objects. The trustees will also explore whether Angel Estillo (a sculpture commissioned by London Borough of Hounslow in 2000 and presently in storage) can be installed in or close by the town centre as their final project. Asset transfer will be reported on in more detail in the charity’s final set of accounts (end Dec 2018).

Twelve years of engagement and impact

Key milestones over the past twelve years:

2006/7: Secured £15k from LB Hounslow’s Innovation fund in 2006/7 to support the development of the Community Vision for Brentford High Street. This funding was lodged with Grand Union Community Development (GUCD). The funding came from a joint bid with our partners including Brentford Chamber of Commerce and Brentford Community Council. GUCD commissioned consultancy on our behalf from the New Economics Foundation to support the process and also provided administrative support to the visioning exercise. Andrew Dakers (Chair), Tim Luckett (Treasurer) and Julia Quilliam (also founder committee member) remained active throughout the 12 years.
December 2007/8: First Christmas lights in Brentford High Street led by Julia Quilliam. Initially funded by Christmas card sales and corporate donations, fundraising dinners were subsequently convened. The lights continue through the present day, now funded by LB Hounslow.
December 2007: Free short-stay car park – Then Cllrs Andrew Dakers, Paul Fisher, Jon Hardy and Matt Harmer collaborated closely with local traders on the campaign to deliver a new car park for the West end of Brentford High Street. This finally opened on the site opposite Brentford Lock in the week of 3rd December 2007 – it was an immediate success.
Spring 2008: ‘Creating the Future 2008’ Awards Finalist in the Innovative Engagement category of the national DCLG/ Academy for Sustainable Communities “Creating the Future 2008” Awards.
January-September 2009: St Lawrence’s War Memorial Restoration – Julia Quilliam led a project with the support of local councillors to restore and relocate a war memorial at St Lawrence’s Church to outside Brentford Library. With funding (about £13.5k) from the local area committee the restoration took place and the rededication ceremony took place on 20 September 2009. Julia’s work on this project and the Christmas lights initiative would be subsequently recognised with the award of a British Empire Medal (BEM) from the Queen.
March 2009: Windows on Brentford – Sarah Hoyle worked with young people and Octink (Commerce Rd, Brentford), with the support of Ballymore, to develop and install a series of artworks by young people in the windows of the derelict building opposite Somerfield. BHSSG were delighted to broker the initial introductions between the project partners.
January 2010: Improved mapping of Brentford – S106 funding was secured from LB Hounslow (Isleworth & Brentford Area Committee) for a detailed mapping project for Brentford High Street. Additional funding was also ring-fenced by the local area committee to take the work and install the map in key locations through Brentford, as well as the town centre.
January-June 2010: Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment urban design study – BHSSG collaborated with Brentford town centre developers Ballymore in co-commissioning The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment to undertake an urban design study. A workshop took place in March and the milestone report was published in June – a vital stepping stone towards the town centre redevelopment. The study took on board ideas from the Community Vision (2007), Ballymore’s studies (2006-9) and the Brentford Area Action Plan (2009) to develop a more detailed urban design approach for the town centre. The hope was that this could secure a broad base of stakeholder support.

April 2010: St George’s Day celebrated for the first time in Market Place. Thousands attended the event which was also supported by the London Borough of Hounslow, Brentford Trilogy author Robert Rankin, Peter Gilham of Brentford FC, the Magistrates’ Court, BrentfordTW8.com, St George, ISIS, ABA-design, and Knight Sound & Light. Helen Martin Productions organised the live stage entertainment.
September 2010: London’s top ‘home town’ – In contrast to Richmond which scored 19.5 and has the most cloned high street of London’s “villages”, with only five independent shops found down its length, Brentford was rated London’s top ‘home town’ with a score of 84.6 in The New Economics Foundation report ‘Reimagining the high street’, and covered in the Evening Standard.
October 2010: Thames Low – Brentford a project with Watermans, Octink and Ballymore saw Urban photographer Peter Kyte win a competitive selection managed by Watermans. His work (still visible today) was installed on the derelict shop frontages between the car park and Magpie & Crown. In October 2010 we were joined by former local MP Mary Macleod for the launch.
April 2011: St George’s Day/ Royal Wedding Celebrations – Our second year of St George’s Day celebrations combined with the Royal Wedding celebrations. Well over 5000 people attended.
June 2011: Signage improvements – £22k of investment from the local area committee saw parking and signage schemes for Brentford High Street completed.
July 2011: Outer London Fund success – London Borough of Hounslow had secured £226k for Brentford Town Centre from the Mayor’s Outer London Fund with the support of BHSSG and other partners. A number of the projects will be delivered by BHSSG, or with our active input.
September 2011: To deliver the Outer London Fund projects, BHSSG determined it must incorporate as a charitable company if risks were to be effectively managed. This took effect on 2 September 2011. Registration of BHSSG as a charity completed on 24 October 2011.
November 2011: BHSSG published the first iteration of BHSSG’s Regeneration Scorecard on 18 November 2011 to assist stakeholders in assessing Ballymore’s emerging plans against the Community Vision for Brentford High Street (2007).
November 2011: BHSSG organised the first Mayor’s Outer London Fund commissioned project – an Italian Market and live music in Market Place. Jo Lavery (The Weir) started to become active in BHSSG, eventually becoming a trustee of the charity.
December 2011: BHSSG hosted a French Market and live music in Market Place, including fireworks on 9 December.
January 2012: Announced that Brentford had been successful in securing £1m of additional investment to the town centre and surround from the Mayor’s Outer London Fund. This will largely be focussed on capital spend creating a more attractive, stronger link between the Great West Rd and town centre.
February 2012: Boris Johnson switched on the Geometry laser light sculpture at Watermans Arts Centre on Brentford High Street. This was funded by the Outer London Fund and delivered by our BHSSG partner Watermans Arts Centre.
March 2012: Launched a refreshed www.brentfordhighstreet.com also hosting the Brentford is Brilliant campaign microsite and a series of videos produced with the University of West London that explain why Brentford is Brilliant.
July 2012: Olympic torch welcomed to Brentford town centre – An event attracting thousands, with gold Brentford is Brilliant placards screened around the world, includes Parkour display across the high street rooftops.
November 2012: Ahead of a Public Meeting on Wednesday 21 November 2012 at St Pauls Church 7-9pm BHSSG set out what it supports with current proposals from Ballymore – and where substantial improvements are needed.
December 2012: LB Hounslow Cabinet agree in principle the use of a Compulsory Purchase Order may be needed to complete the land consolidation on the south side of Brentford High Street. This is a step that BHSSG has always supported and was first acknowledged by the Council in the Brentford Area Action Plan (BAAP).
January 2013: BHSSG submit license application to LB Hounslow for a six month pilot Food Market in Brentford town centre, with support from the National Lottery and Portas Pilots programme. The weekly Sunday Market (bringing back Brentford Market, first established in 1306) launched in May and would consume most of our volunteer capacity in the subsequent five years – BHSSG trustee Jo Lavery was the named licensee with BHSSG as the operator. All income generated from the market went to covering its operational costs and marketing. We have been delighted to see a number of micro-enterprises successfully start-up on the market from The Coffee Traveller to Bianca Marton Chocolates. Melissa Hayles, John Kenton, Neil and Becks Vanstone were stand-out development managers of the Market over the five years it operated under BHSSG’s stewardship. The launch of the weekly market also saw Jillian Crowcroft become a core member of the trustee team.
February 2013: BHSSG, Brentford Chamber of Commerce and Brentford Community Council sent a joint letter to Brendon Walsh (Director of Planning at LB Hounslow) calling for the Council to negotiate improvements to the Town Centre planning application in six specific areas.
April 2014: BHSSG’s Hounslow Local Plan Response highlighted the Brentford Area Action Plan (BAAP) High Street policies under threat as a result of the BAAP not being included in the draft Hounslow Local Plan. On 30 April 2014 sixty local residents and traders met with Jo Swindells (then project manager at Ballymore) and Brendon Walsh (then Planning Director at London Borough of Hounslow) in a heated meeting on Ballymore’s proposals for the town centre – a meeting organised by Brentford Chamber of Commerce.
May 2014: In the run up to the local elections BHSSG sought the views of all local political parties on the regeneration of Brentford town centre.
June 2014: Planning Minister Nick Boles MP visited Brentford High Street (organised by former local MP Mary Macleod) and met BHSSG trustees Jo Lavery and Julia Quilliam.
August 2014: Over three years BHSSG has been actively supporting the bid for Outer London Fund Round 2 funding (The Brentford Connection) which has seen improvements to the canal-side sheds and most exciting of all the renovation of Market Place. On Sunday 17 August 2014 we celebrated the completion of Market Place’s renovation; and there was a further event ‘The fire garden’ commissioned by Watermans from ‘Walk the plank’ on 28 November. Much to our sadness Hounslow Council failed to purchase the central section of Market Place land before spending hundreds of thousands of public money on privately owned land. The leaseholders (Verdict) have kindly provided BHSSG with a cost free license to operate the market on the land over the past three years, but this should not have been required.
November 2014: On 27 November LB Hounslow planning committee granted Ballymore’s scheme planning permission against a backdrop of considerable community opposition to the density, aesthetics and lack of transition planning. 12 councillors voted in favour, 2 against and 1 abstained. We had succeeded in making arguments for the 2D grain of the old yards to be retained as well as a proportion (although not enough) of the heritage assets. However we failed to get a design aesthetic established that respected the Brentford vernacular.
October 2016: Brentford Market was awarded Social Enterprise of the Year at the Hounslow Business Awards 2016.
January 2017: Facilitating debate on future of Morrisons site – Andrew Dakers, Chair of BHSSG, chaired a well-attended public meeting at St Pauls Church on the Morrisons site proposals
March 2017: Pocahontas plaque, created by local artist Claire Ireland, is unveiled in the Syon Park wall to the West of Brentford Town Centre to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of Pocahontas. This was led by the Thames Landscape Strategy and championed by Cllr Paul Lynch. A physical marker remembering Pocahontas’ connection to the town was a recommendation in the 2007 community vision for the high street.
April 2017: Essential Living Scheme for the Morrisons site approved by Hounslow Council’s Planning Committee.
February 2018: London Green, with joint venture partner Topland Group, receive approval for schemes for the old police station site and the current Watermans and Max Factor buildings, which will see Watermans relocate to new facilities in the town centre. Relocating Watermans to the town centre was a key recommendation in the 2007 community vision, which at one stage was put at risk when LB Hounslow contemplated moving the arts centre to Hounslow.
March 2018: Secretary of State approves the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the land required for Ballymore development south of Brentford High Street – a process that started in March 2017 with a public enquiry in October 2017.
September 2018: BHSSG trustees decide the time is right to wind-up the charity.

Signing off

What we have achieved over the past twelve years has been down to the hard graft of a few volunteers and the support of our partners at many critical points along the way. In the past five years Brentford Market at its best has provided a wonderful space for the Brentford community, young and old to come together.

We hope that the remaining retail businesses on the south side of the High Street will be supported by LB Hounslow and Ballymore with temporary units in the coming months so they can continue to operate during the transition, help retain footfall in the town centre, and then become early occupiers of the rebuilt town centre. When planning consent was granted the planning committee and community was assured that financial provision would be made in the planning agreement to support retailers through the transition. Now is the time for this resource to be deployed.

Whilst BHSSG never objected to high density development or contemporary architecture as part of the overall mix in the plans for the new town centre, we were very disappointed at the lack of imagination and sensibility for the town centre’s history in the scheme given planning consent in November 2014. This was an opportunity missed and we can only hope that as the detailed designs are worked through, some of the points we have made over the past decade regarding design detail are remembered: Brentford’s brick buildings and pitched roofscape, with surprising nooks and crannies, are what makes Brentford town centre interesting. More than ever a ‘clone town’ regeneration is unlikely to succeed in today’s highly competitive retail environment.

Why I changed my view on Heathrow expansion – but climate change remains a real threat

27 September 2015Climate change, Development, Heathrow, Sustainabilityarguments, aviation, climate change, expansion, Heathrow, mitigation measuresandrew.dakers@blueyonder.co.uk

For most of my life I have stood firmly against expansion of Heathrow airport, largely on the grounds of aviation’s impact on climate change.

As both a Councillor and Parliamentary candidate I committed to lie in front of bulldozers and joined the Heathrow Climate Camp, where I was the only elected politician to put up a tent! I also called for the Cranford Agreement, which was designed to protect the residents close to the eastern end of the northern runway from high noise levels, to be codified in law. Furthermore, in 2007 I was moved to take part in non-violent direct action as a protester interrupting a keynote speech at Chatham House by then MP and Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander.

However, in late 2012 my views changed on Heathrow expansion. As the debate reaches a critical juncture this autumn, I feel that now is the time to expand on the reasons why a significant shift in the debate – and a more dialogue-based approach from the operators of Heathrow – has led to my new outlook on this complex and tough decision facing our community.

**The national debate has shifted from should we expand aviation? To where should we expand aviation?**

The key milestone in my change of outlook was the announcement of the Davies Commission in September 2012. With the commission’s launch and despite the best efforts of the environmental movement, the national debate moved from not whether we should expand airports at all, but to where a new runway in the South East of England would be built?

Whilst the climate change impacts of aviation still give me huge cause for concern, as a West Londoner I think we would be mad to give up the economic advantage that Heathrow offers, particularly given the changes Heathrow have now made to their proposals. I say this despite living directly under the flight path and suffering the 4.30am aircraft wake-up calls!

West London’s economic strength is intrinsically tied to Heathrow and its leading international position

We would be naive to think that our quality of life in terms of factors such as good quality jobs and high levels of employment is not linked to Heathrow airport. As a nation we need to think carefully about whether directing investment towards Gatwick, rather than ensuring Heathrow remains a world-class airport, would risk a number of major employers taking the opportunity to simply relocate their headquarters outside the UK. From the conversations I have with senior business leaders I am in no doubt that this is a very real danger.

Mothballed company HQs would be disastrous environmentally, socially and economically. It took some 20 years for the EMI factory at Hayes to find a new lease of life as The Old Vinyl Factory. Some 202 of the top 300 companies in the UK are clustered within 25 miles of Heathrow, compared to only seven around Stansted and two around the Thames Estuary. In total we have 60% more international companies in the area around Heathrow than in the rest of the UK, as firms that rely on international long-haul flights choose to locate themselves around Heathrow. Not surprisingly, the economy around Heathrow reflects some 60 years of investment by these firms.

International trade

Heathrow suggest their proposals will enable 40 new long-haul destinations to be introduced. At a time when the UK economy is still struggling to recover from recession giving business people easier access to new global markets would be a really helpful economic driver. Nevertheless my one caveat to this is that we need to be smarter about how we use this capacity. Placing capacity constraints on Heathrow is economically and carbon inefficient on the basis that direct flights to destinations, providing the seats are fully utilised, are lower impact.

However, none of the arguments above for expanding Heathrow, rather than Gatwick, is to say that the climate change and other environmental impacts including air quality, CO₂ emissions and noise, and it is essential that the aviation industry maintains an unrelenting focus on these areas. If these key issues are not addressed meaningfully, then West Londoners’ quality of life will slide backwards and suburban living and working will become less and less appealing, which will create its own problems for our community.

How are Heathrow proposing to mitigate their impacts?

2010 v 2015 proposals

Heathrow’s 2015 proposals have changed significantly from those put forward in 2010 to try and reduce the impact of expansion on our local communities. The Airports Commission’s final report recognises this, stating that the 2015 proposals are ‘a radically different plan from any previous proposals’.

On the face of it, the 2015 proposals might look like a scheme with greater impact. However, this is a more carefully considered set of plans that is designed to respond to the feedback from local consultations regarding the key issues of noise, air quality, transport network capacity and carbon emissions.

Noise

After sustained campaigning by the local community and more dialogue, Heathrow has put together a fairer deal than previously for those home-owners that would have to move as a result of expansion and those of us that would continue to experience significant noise.

Published in June 2015, Heathrow’s Blueprint for noise reduction sets out the airport’s top ten priorities for action on noise on areas which include the early phase-out of the noisiest planes, quieter approaches and better distribution of night time landing noise, as well as bigger fines for noisy departures.

Air quality

The Heathrow debate has been subject to some rather muddled arguments from politicians regarding the Airports Commission’s consultation on air quality and the validity of data collected from monitoring sites located next to the airport and its contribution to London’s pollution crisis. The reality is that the monitoring sites located further away from the airport are failing to meet EU limits, and this is due to a variety of factors.

Data from the Hillingdon and Hayes air quality monitoring stations further away from the airport shows that air quality readings based on an annual average are breaching EU limits. At Hillingdon the airport contributes 16% of emissions, and at Hayes it is 6%. As can be seen in the charts, at both these locations, after background contribution, it is non-airport related traffic which is the most significant emissions source.

Heathrow debate slide 8

Heathrow is doing a lot to address emissions from the airport-related activity as set out in their blueprint for reducing emissions . These measures, along with the mitigations to reduce emissions through the design of the expanded airport, demonstrate how the airport can expand and remain within pollution limits. In addition, the Airport Commission concluded that the Heathrow North West Runway proposal would have a Nitrogen dioxide metric of 34.7 micrograms per cubic meter, below the EU air quality limit of 40.

Transport network capacity

As I set out above, surface transport is the most significant factor affecting local air quality in the Heathrow Area. In recognition of this, Heathrow has developed a strategy that will transform rail connectivity in all directions. This aims to help ensure that the majority of passengers use public transport at the expanded airport. In addition, major projects such as Crossrail will deliver improved connectivity through West London with more trains and faster journey times. With its strategy in place the airport believes there could be as many as 40 trains per hour, equating to a train every 90 seconds, with an increase in capacity from 5,000 seats per hour today to almost 15,000 seats per hour by 2040. I have no doubt that most West Londoners would like to see this investment happen even faster!

With its Heathrow Commuter programme the airport has successfully reduced the number of airport workers who travel by car over the last 20-25 years. The programme includes the world’s largest single site car share scheme, Heathrow Cycle Hub and a wide range of discounted travel products to support use of public transport. This and other investment in sustainable transport will help the airport to deliver on its commitment to deliver expansion without increasing its contribution to traffic on the road network, an important factor in meeting the challenge of meeting air quality limits.

To reduce Heathrow’s air quality impact through the transport activity the airport generates even more may be required. Perhaps we will need to see London’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) expanded to include the airport?

Carbon emissions

The figure below from the the Committee on Climate Change’s progress report to parliament in July 2014 shows how the contribution of different sectors to the UK’s CO2 emissions has shifted between 1990 and 2013. Fortunately for Heathrow, the aviation sector and their customers, aviation is forecast to get a significant share of the UK’s CO2 budget in 2050, even after taking technological innovations into account. It takes a lot to get us sky-borne.

Sustainable Aviation’s roadmap published in December 2014 sets out how the sector believes it can expand whilst remaining within the UK’s international commitments on carbon reduction. This will be achieved through a combination of high carbon trading and offset; the use of sustainable fuel such as from waste and fuel-burn reduction through a more efficient aircraft fleet.

Are all these actions sufficient for the scale of the challenge?

As I have reflected again in recent weeks, as I take on my new role as Chief Executive of West London Business where my team will develop our work on environmental sustainability in the months ahead, realising the ambitious plans of Heathrow and the wider aviation sector for a more sustainable business model will only be achieved through partnership and some healthy competition to find solutions. With the right combination of collaboration and competition we can but hope we are successful in getting better at protecting the planet we pass onto the next generation.

As for practical steps to support the transition and make sure that Heathrow delivers on its commitments I would like to suggest the following measures:

Sustainable Aviation and Heathrow’s corporate responsibility initiatives must be open to external scrutiny and robust audit on an annual basis. The toughest international standards from the Global Reporting Initiative to independent verification of reports must be in place to help ensure that annual targets are achieved.
The right incentives for the technical innovation that reduced CO2 emissions requires must be put in place by government and industry.
Families and individuals’ homes impacted by the proposals, Harmondsworth most significantly, should be supported by local leaders and the airport in exploring a full range of options to assist in what will sadly for some be a traumatic experience. In fact a dedicated team should be put in place to provide support. It is important to reminder that some residents, I suspect, will be delighted at the compensation package and opportunity to relocate.

In West London I hope our business community can do far more in the years ahead with the Ellen McArthur Foundation, leveraging their insights into designing a Circular Economy. This may also see us start to draw more on the visionary work by Andrew Simms in ‘Collision Course’ which encouraged us to start to think more strategically as to where and how the production and distribution of goods, as well as their supply, is best organised.

Collision_course_slide2b

The bottom line of course is that whatever capacity we have in airports such as Heathrow we need to make the smartest, most efficient use of what is a finite resource to drive our economy forward.

Make your voice heard

13 September 2015Developmentandrew.dakers@blueyonder.co.uk

You can help raise awareness of the environment, social and economic issues you care about by blogging on: Blogger

Tweeting and Retweeting on: Twitter

….or take part of the debate on local internet forums where you live, such as:
– BrentfordTW8.com
– ChiswickW4.com

If you want to build your confidence in public speaking at meetings then if you are a young person get involved in the English Speaking Union. I recommend all ages to read The Art of Public Speaking (12e) by Stephen Lucas. You may also want to look at the companion website to the 9th edition.

Communityplanning.net is a great place to find a range of tools that can be used to help change your community.

For strategic advice on campaigning, read the work of Chris Rose (www.campaignstrategy.org); I particularly recommend his reflections on the long game involved in influencing political parties.

You can read my occassional blog posts or follow my Tweets.

ANDREW DAKERS

Responsible business and environmental sustainability action